Wife, mother and all around good role model, Jessica Maria Alba does her Mexican heritage proud. Acting since she was five years old, the California native and studied under William H. Macy. Personally, I loved her in The Love Guru where she played the owner of a Canadian Hockey team on a losing streak opposite Mike Myers and the kick ass moves in Fantastic Four. Alba is a social activist openly supporting marriage equality, ethical treatment of humans and animals (Habitat for Humanity) and is anti-toxidant (she protested against toxic chemical in Washington DC in support of the Safe Chemicals Act).

Albert Baez - Author, Inventor

Whilst most remember him as the father of Joan Baez, the iconic folk singer, I picked Albert because he made a very important contribution to science and with his work on the invention of x-ray microscopes and x-ray telescopes. He broke down many Mexican stereotypes and left a legacy behind Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation being inducted to their Hall of Fame in 1998.

Carlos Slim Helu

To Mexican children, he is the equivalent of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. In other words, that person your mother tells you to aspire to be. Slim was once the richest man on earth, only to lose that title to Bill Gates in 2008. Slim was an entrepreneur with his biggest fortune derived from his telco Telmex and America Movil. Slim was also a cultural mutt, coming from a staunch Maronite Catholic background with Lebanese lineage. He bought his first shares at the age of twelve, and by the age of 17 was earning 200 pesos per week working in his dad's business. Slim proved that Mexicans could achieve whatever they set their mind to, removing a tribal belief of enslavement to poverty.